Pqge 10
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
May 12, 2005
Orchard trip Saturday
News from OSU Extension
The OSU Intension Ser
vice continues its Ag on the
Road series this Saturday,
May J 4, with a visit to a
cherry orchard in the Dalles.
Youth and parents arc invited.
The group will travel to an
orchard and view farms at
The Dalles, to sec first-hand
how the growers get ready for
hc cherry harvest. The fruit
will still be on the trees, ready
for harvest.
People interested in attend
ing should meet at the tribal
Education Building at 9 a.m.
on Saturday.
If you arc planning to at
tend, please call the Extension
Office at 553-3238. Also,
please bring a brown bag
lunch.
The group is expected to
return at approximately 2 p.m.
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Brian MortentenSpilyay
Eric Miller picks up loose refuse along Looksh Road
north of Warm Springs April 27 as part of the Warm
Springs Community Work Force's effort to help clean
up community streets. The crew of seven had
finished up litter-crew efforts in the West Hills, Elliott
Heights, Sidwalterand Seekseequa areas, and had
filled 45 garbage bags on Looksh Road by
midmorning that day.
West Nile is dangerous but preventable
By Fata Ann Cutrlm
OSU Extension Strvici
Agriculture agent
As the temperatures are in
creasing, the potential for West
Nile virus to infect our horses
is also increasing. This relatively
new etjuine illness was discov
ered in Oregon last summer.
The moscjuito-borne disease
was confirmed in eight of
Oregon's counties and, accord
ing to the Oregon Department
of Agriculture, the final tally for
2004 showed detections of the
virus in 32 horses, 23 birds and
five humans.
Infected wild birds are the
source of the West Nile virus.
Mosquitoes bite infected birds,
then the infection is transmitted
to horses and humans. The dis
ease docs not transmit from
horse to horse or human to hu
man. A bite by an infected mos
quito is the only known route
of transmission.
West Nile is a virus carried
by mosquitoes that was first
detected in the United States in
1999.
The virus, which causes en
cephalitis, or inflammation of
the brain, has been found in
Africa, Western Asia, the Middle
East, the Mediterranean region
of Europe, and, most recendy,
in the United States.
Morses are particularly sus
ceptible to the disease, but may
be vaccinated against it.
The virus can infect the cen
tral nervous system of horses
and cause symptoms of en
cephalitis. Clinical signs of en
cephalitis in horses include weak
ness or paralysis of hind limbs,
hyper excitability, ataxia (incoor
dination), and convulsions. Fe
ver is not usually observed.
Not all horses that contract
the virus will die from it. Some
may just show signs of illness,
and recover.
A horse owner needs to
make a well-informed decision
and vaccinate his or her horses,
knowing that if their horse is in
fected, it may die.
Vaccinations still have to be
legally administered by a veteri
narian. On April 13,h of this year
here at Warm Springs, our West
Nile vaccination clinic vacci
nated 37 horses belonging to
tribal members that participated.
Vaccinations were done by the
visiting USDA veterinarian.
Another aspect of control
ling the spread of this disease is
to reduce the mosquito breed
ing sites out on the range or on
Workshop on eastside forests
If you are a family forest
owner with a small or large acre
age, a rancher, logger, contrac
tor, teacher or anyone interested
in learning about the ecology
and management of eastside
forests, then this workshop is for
you.
The workshop will last a day
and a half. The instructors will
use the newly published Ecol
ogy and Management of East
ern Oregon Forests: A Compre
hensive Manual for Forest Own
ers.
For more information con
tact OSU extension, Warm
springs, 553-2338. Workshops
are on Fridays and Saturdays as
follows:
May 20 and 21 at the LaPine
Rural Fire Department, 51550
S. Huntington Rd., LaPine.
June 3 and 4 at the Sumpter
Nugget, 228 Mill St., Sumpter.
June 17 and 18, Elgin Com
munity Center, 260 N. Tenth St.,
Elgin.
your property.
Check for and eliminate any
source of stagnant water, the
habitat where mosquitoes breed.
Old tires, clogged gutters, wad
ing pools, wheelbarrows, bird
baths, tarps, flower pot saucers,
pet water dishes, and watering
cans are sources of stagnant
water. A good rule of thumb is:
where water can stand for more
than four days is a potential
breeding site for mosquitoes.
If you have a pond or other
water feature, a relatively new
"least toxic" mosquito control
method is now easily available
in many garden centers. These
are called mosquito disks or
dunks. Mosquito disks are little
doughnut-shaped, time-release
rings that can be floated in a
pond or water feature. They
slowly release B.t.i. (Bacillus
thuringiensis israelensis), a soil
bacteria, tested and found lethal
only to mosquito larvae, black
flies and fungus gnats. B.t.i. is
active over a 30-day period. All
other organisms should be un
affected. Studies show that B.t.i. acts
quickly - in experiments, a mod
erate to high concentration killed
half the mosquito larvae within
15 minutes and finished off the
remainder after about an hour.
B.t.i. pesticides are unlike
many of the more broad-spectrum
pesticides, in that they only
kill certain groups of insects.
Michigan State University re
searchers test B.t.L over a three
year period in the field and labo
ratory for possible impacts on
"non-target organisms", other
aquatic organisms besides mos
quitoes, black flies and fungus
gnats. They observed no nega
tive impacts on other aquatic in
sects including stoneflies, may
flies, dragonflies, caddis flies or
other aquatic flies such as crane
flies. As with all pesticides, it is
imperative that users follow la
bel instructions carefully.
If you are outdoors a lot, you
may be tempted to douse your
self with DEET, a potent and
popular insect repellent, to pro
tect against disease-carrying
mosquitoes. But DEET can
pose health risks, so make sure
to follow label instructions, ad
vise OSU toxicologists.
The OSU Extension office is
giving away B.t.i. dunks to tribal
members. Call our office at
(541) 553-3238 for more infor
mation, or stop by at the Edu
cation building, Warm Springs.
Training teaches tractor safety
Tractor safety training for
Central Oregon youth is be
ing offered Monday through
Wednesday, June 20-22 in
Madras. This certification is
for youth ages 14-17. Minors
under the age of 18 are re
quired to complete and pass
a tractor safety training pro
gram in order to operate
power-driven farm machin
ery, unless they are working
for family members. To reg
ister, contact the OSU Exten
sion Service Office of Warm
Springs, 553-3808.
Community meeting: Monday, May 23, to discuss pro
posed additions to the Warm Springs Commercial Code.
5:30 p.m. at the Community Center Social Hall. For in
formation call Shawnele Surplus, advocate, 553-3148.
School to
scrap mascot
ENTERPRISE (AP) -For
most of a century, a cari
cature of an American In
dian has represented the En
terprise High School Sav
ages in this town in
Oregon's remote northeast
corner.
No more. The school
board has voted to approve
the student body's request to
have the nickname and mas
cot changed to the Oudaws,
ending eight years of wran
gling. Superintendent Brad
Royse said he was pleased
with the students' decision.
"I'm very proud of our
kids, and proud to be their
superintendent," Royse said.
"It's amazing that sometimes
kids have the fortitude to go
ahead and tread" where
adults won't.
Eight years ago a citizen
asked that the Savages mas
cot be dropped. He said
some people might be too
close to the 80-year tradition
to realize that it offended
some people. The board
voted to drop the mascot.
Contention followed, and at
a school assembly Nez
Perce elder Horace Axtell
addressed students.
He was asked which he
found more offensive, the
name or the picture, and he
pointed to a painting in the
gymnasium.
So, the student body was
allowed to keep the nick
name but asked to choose a
new caricature. Students
took up the issue again this
year. For generations the
area was home to the Nez
Perce Indians, most fa
mously to Chief Joseph, or
Young Joseph.
Fishing rights:
litigation can take
many years
(Continued from page 5)
This ruling turned out to be
very insightful and beneficial to
the tribes, as the battle between
the tribes and the states over
treaty fishing rights has contin
ued to the present day.
U.S. v. Washington
The tribes of western Wash
ington faced similar barriers to
the exercise of their treaty fish
ing rights as those faced by the
Columbia River tribes. In 1973,
the United States and 14 Wash
ington tribes filed suit against the
state of Washington. Judge
George Boldt heard this case,
and on February 12, 1974 an
nounced his decision. Judge
Boldt's decision agreed with and
extended Judge Belloni's hold
ing in U.S. v. Oregon. Judge Boldt
went further than Judge Belloni
by stating that the Indians' right
to take fish "in common with
citizens of the United States"
meant a 50-50 split. Thus, un
der this holding, the tribes were
entitled to 50 percent of the
annual harvest of each run of
salmon passing the tribes' "usual
and accustomed" fishing places.
Judge Boldt further expressly
held that the tribes had the sov
ereign power to regulate the ex
ercise of treaty fishing rights by
their members, provided the
tribes were capable of doing so.
Judge Belloni later adopted these
holding as part of U.S. u Oregon.
Continuing Conflict
The states of Oregon and
Washington continued to resist
the federal court rulings protect
ing treaty fishing rights. During
the early 1970s, the tribes were
forced to return to the court
room again and again to enforce
the rulings. Judge Belloni has
called the actions of the state
of Washington during this time
period "disgraceful." In a later
case that challenged the sub
stance of the Bodlt and Belloni
decisions, appeals court Judge
Alfred T. Goodwin wrote,
"The state's extraordinary
machinations in resisting the
decree have forced the district
court to take over a large share
of the management of the
state's fishery in order to en
force its decrees. Except for
some desegregation cases, the
district court has faced the most
concerted official and private
efforts to frustrate a decree of
a federal court witnessed this
century."
Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission
During the 1970s, the four
Columbia River treaty tribes
began to recognize the need for
a formal organization with tech
nical expertise to assist them in
protecting the fishery and treaty
fishing rights. Tribal leaders
based the structure of the new
organization on both the new
Northwest Indian Fisheries
Commission in Washington, and
the traditional concepts of gov
ernance practiced by multiple
tribes in managing the Celilo
fishery. The Columbia River
Inter-Tribal fish Commission
was formally established in
1977.
New Blood
By the end of the 1970s, U.S.
v. Oregon had been ongoing for
more than a decade. Judge
Belloni resigned from the case
because he no longer felt he
could be unbiased. "It became
frustrating to me, personally,"
said Judge Belloni, "to be con
tinually finding points in favor
of the Indians when they de
served it, and then later see that
those rulings failed to get the
Indians more fish." After long
years' experience, Judge Belloni's
sympathy for the tribes and frus
tration with states prevented
him from maintaining his impar
tiality. Federal District Judge
Walter Craig was assigned to
both U.S. v. Oregon and U.S. v.
Washington after Judge Belloni
resigned and Judge Boldt retired.
In 1980, Howard Arnett
joined the Karnopp Petersen as
a tribal attorney. After joining the
firm, Howie took over respon
sibility for the Treaty fishing
rights litigation from Dennis
Karnopp and has continued as
lead Tribal Attorney on Treaty
rights matters, which now in
cludes the Tribe's participation
in U.S. v. Washington, ocean fish
ing litigation, the U.S.-Canada
Pacific Salmon Treaty, and en
vironmental litigation intended
to protect the salmon and steel
head runs on which the Tribe's
1855 Treaty fishing rights de
pend. The ocean fishery
The ocean fishery is regulated
by the Pacific Fisheries Manage
ment Council and the North
Pacific Fisheries Management
Council. These councils propose
harvest management plans,
which then go to the Secretary
of Commerce for review and
approval. When the councils
refused to recognize any tribal
treaty right to salmon before
they enter the Columbia, the
tribes tried to work through their
trustee, the federal government,
to encourage better manage
ment of the ocean fishery.
When that failed, Warm Springs
filed a lawsuit against the Secre
tary of Commerce in May
1979. The three other treaty
tribes joined the lawsuit as plain
tiffs. In 1982, the lawsuit was
The next era of treaty
fishing litigation may
very well be the estab
lishment of the right of
tribal members to
continue to fish for
generations to come.
broadened to include the state
of Alaska as a defendant as a
way to gain leverage over Alaska
fishermen harvesting large num
bers of Columbia River fish.
In 1984, Canada and the
United states signed the Pacific
Salmon Interception Treaty.
This Treaty established a Pacific
Salmon Commission to admin
ister the Treaty. The U.S. sec
tion of the Commission allo
cates harvest between Alaska
and Oregon Washington and the
tribes.
U.S. v. Oregon then allocates
the harvest between the states
of Oregon and Washington and
the Columbia River tribes. The
Pacific Salmon Treaty Act of
1985 acknowledged the tribes'
regulatory authority by giving the
tribes one of three voting posi
tions on the U.S. Commission.
Alaska also has a voting position,
and Oregon and Washington
share a voting position.
Columbia River Fish Man
agement Plan
In 1988, at the urging of
Judge Craig and after several
years of negotiations, the par
ties to U.S. v. Oregon concluded
a comprehensive fisheries man
agement and production plan
for the Columbia River, called
the Columbia River Fish Man
agement Plan or "CRFMP."
This agreement implemented
the U.S. k Oregon and U.S. e.
Washington court rulings by in
suring that Warm Springs and
the other Columbia River treaty
tribes would have the opportu
nity to catch 50 percent of the
salmon passing their treaty re
served fishing places. The
CRFMP also counted the
salmon harvest in the Pacific
Ocean against the non-Indian
share, consistent with the court
rulings.
The tribes considered the
CRFMP to be a success, al
though it expired in 1998.
Nonetheless, the parties to U.S.
a Oregon have continued to op
erate under the framework of
the CRFMP and have several
times extended its provisions on
a short-term basis as they con
tinue to work on a new long
term plan.
Treaty Fishing Today
After continuing litigation
and negotiation in U.S. p. Oregon,
Warm Springs and the other
Columbia River treaty tribes
have generally achieved a fair
share of the existing runs for
tribal fishermen. However, as
salmonid populations continue
to diminish, the actual number
of fish in that "fair share" is
dwindling as well. The treaty
fishing rights cases have brought
dramatic change and led to the
establishment of sophisticated
fish and wildlife departments
among the various tribes, as well
as the establishment of
CRITFC.
The next era of treaty fish
ing litigation may very well be
the establishment of the right
of tribal members to continue
to fish for generations to come.
This can only be achieved
through extensive conservation
efforts. As long-time Warm
Springs fish committee member
Delbert Frank has said, "Fifty
percent of nothing is still nothing"